Here's something that I didn't tell anybody, even though it occurred almost two months ago.:

My dermatologist, noticing several black-blue spots on my left hand, became alarmed, and thinking they might be melanoma, recommended that I get a biopsy done.  Having much resrvation about getting the hand biopsy done, and not wanting to jump into that sort of thing right away, I insisted on a second opinion, which I got from a second dermatologist.  As it turned out, the second dermatologist also agreed that I should have the hand biopsy done, if only to  get some closure on it, even though they said it was probably nothing significant. 

  Reluctantly, I agreed, and the dermatologist from whom I'd obtained the second opinion, recommended a hand surgeon to do the procedure, in order to minimize the risk of damage to the nerves and blood vessels in that particular area. 

After agreeing to the procedure, I opted to get the hand biopsy done at a place that was readily accessible to public transportation from where I live.  Not long afterwards, I had a consultation appointment with the hand surgeon, and, then, after awhile, I was set up with an appointment to have the biopsy done. 

On the appointed day, I drove to the hospital because it was an extremely cold January day.  Although they were running more than a half hour late, I got the procedure done, and was sent home with after-care instructions and instructions to follow up with a phone call to the ambulatory treatment services clinic at the hospital where I'd had the procedure done, which I didm, also receiving self-absorbing stitches afterwards.

Several days after the  hand biopsy  was done, however, something went wrong and the site of the biopsy became infected, despite carefully following the advisory precautions I'd been given.  I called the clinic a week after the procedure to tell them what I noticed, only to be told that neither the surgeon or physician's assistant would be in until the following Monday.  The biopsy  area was a really, really angry-looking red, appeared to have a white center, and felt somewhat painful and warm to the touch.  I decided to wait until Monday morning to make the call. 

Late that Saturday night, however, as I was washing my hands, the infected site opened up, oozing a greenish-yellowish pus.  I quickly called the hospital clinic's after-hours paging system, giving them my name and call-back number for the doctor on call that night.  They called me back 10-15 minutes later, and, after explaining to them what was going on, I was told to go right to the hospital emergency room. I drove myself over to the hospital, valet-parked my car, and went into the hospital emergency room. 

On this icy cold night (no snow was around, b tw), after about an hour's wait(not too, too  bad for a Saturday night's wait in the hospital emergency room), I was taken in, my hand looked at, and given an antibiotic intravenous drip bag.  After they drew a line to where the redness on my hand ended, they  re-opened the biopsy incision,  drained it,  took a culture, and put a gauze bandage dressing over it for protection.  Having my infected hand re-opened and drained of the remaining pus was a relief--it  felt better almost immediately, and was less swollen. 

Due to the fact, however,  that it was a hand infection, which could spread much more quickly, and affect the ligaments and tendons in my hand, and therefore my mobility,  I was kept in the Observation Unit of the hospital emergency room for the night,  assuming that it was either a staph or strep infection that I had, and toi make sure that the redness on my infected hand did not extend beyond the line that they'd drawn, and to make sure that I was responding well to the intravenous antibiotics that I'd been given. 

Meanwhile, the supervising doctor who was on call that night, was kind enough to look up the result of the biopsy, explain to me what it was, and even print up a wikipedia article about it for me.  I thanked her politely, and with her help, moved over to the Emergency room's Observation Unit, where I spent the night.

Fortunately, the next morning, the redness on my infected hand had receded considerably after I'd been given the intravenous antiobiotic drip-bag and there was no need to give me an another intravenous antibiotic bag.  After doing all the paperwork necessary, I was discharged that morning with a prescription for a week's worth of oral antibiotics that I was to take as a follow up, to prevent furthur infection. 

Since this all happened on the weekend, it was tough to find a pharmacy opened before noon that would accept my insurance. However, I eventually found one, had the prescription filled there, and then immediately started taking the oral antibiotic as prrescribed.

As I was also instructed, I contacted my regular doctor's office, and had some follow-ups witht the nurse practicioner and doctor to make sure that everything was healing up OK, which it was.  I got the results of both the culture and  the biopsy:  I had, indeed, had a staphylococcus infection, which, fortunately, was a regular staph infection, as opposed to an MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) infection, and therefore, only standard antibiotics were necessary for me, thank goodness.  The biopsy results showed that, as was assumed from the beginning, that the black-blue spots on my left hand were merely small silver deposits under my skin that were harmless, insignificant, and nothing to worry about.  In both cases, I was relieved. 

Although it has taken awhile, the biopsy area is now healing quite nicely, although not as neatly as it would've otherwise.  I was told that it could take as long as 6 months to a year to resolve itself, and that I should resume normal activities gradually.  One good piece of advice that I was given by my regular doctor and the nurse practitioner that I saw was to keep cream on my hands so they wouldn't dry out, and to massage cream into the scarred biopsy area, both of which I'd been doing.

Whew!! glad it's over!  As for the emergency room wait, lots of people were there that Saturday night, although they didn't take people on the order that they arrived, but in order of urgency.



I  honestly thought I'd be waiting til 2-3 in the morning just to get seen!!  However, I was seen after an hour, which again, wasn't too bad for a Saturday  night in an emergency room.